tool-design-sprint-readiness

Evaluate eight readiness criteria: a sprint-worthy challenge, meaningful stakes, Decider availability for load-bearing moments, a 4-7 person team, five cleared consecutive days, Friday customer access, a one-day prototype medium, and a path forward for results. All eight passing means Go; three or more failures means Wait.

A sprint-worthy challenge is specific enough to prototype in four days and big enough that a wrong direction would be costly. Broad challenges like redesigning onboarding should be narrowed, for example to testing the first-time signup flow for a specific customer segment.

Skip a Design Sprint when there is no clear challenge, no Decider with real authority, no realistic Friday customer access, or when leadership has already decided the outcome. Low-stakes tweaks also do not justify five days of team time; use a lighter experiment instead.

A Foundation Sprint chooses strategic direction in two days with no prototype or customers. A Design Sprint validates a chosen direction over five days with a prototype and Friday customer testing. Teams without a chosen direction should run a Foundation Sprint first.

Recruiting should start 7-10 days before Friday testing, as soon as the readiness verdict is Go. The canonical target is 5 target-profile customers with paid honoraria, ideally confirming 6 slots to buffer against no-shows.